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Edited•20w

when i was 13 years old i got scouted by a few kpop labels and even got offered to move to seoul to become a trainee. my mom actually wanted me to go for it but i felt like i just wasn’t korean enough, being that i was born and raised in philly and didn’t know how i’d fit in. i liked kpop then but i had to actively hunt it down. i would beg my mom to rent vhs tapes of kpop performance shows and violently wear down that red race car vhs rewinder. i’d save what money i could to buy (sometimes steal oops) cds from the bootleg sanrio store above the cheltenham hmart and spend all my bandwidth on prioritizing which albums belonged in my awia 5 cd changer stereo.

fast forward almost 30 years later and kpop is unavoidable. there’s korean faces on every major billboard as well as korean voices on every major billboard chart. i’ve been privileged enough to have had a small role in that thanks to the people that believed in me. and even more so, thanks to my heroes that looked like me that gave me the audacity to think any of this was possible, as well as the clarity to believe that this was cool.

and now kpop demon hunters is out! thanks to @sonyanimation and @netflix. numerous friends of mine have sent me videos of their kids watching the film and now i can be confident that they will never have to hunt down their identity as i once did. it’s a play button away.

thank you @agnesjlee 누나 for bringing @theblacklabel @kucasso @vincesince19xx @prodby24 and myself on board. with the direction from @nutmags and @appelhansc the vision was clear, promised, and delivered. thank you @wongtangclan3 and @scott.berri for believing in that vision and bringing something so important to life. @ejae_k you are an actual superhero in the studio and now on the screen. and none of this would be possible without @ianeisendrathmusic who taught me so much about how music shapes a film. thank you to everyone else involved in the film.

and i’m just really happy for that 13 year old danny who wasn’t sure if kpop was cool, listening to h.o.t with headphones on at mid volume in public to not be “found out.” i’m currently listening to ‘soda pop’ at obnoxious levels. ♥️

arden_cho

20w

Love this!!!! Amazing work! And H.O.T. is where I started too! Haha

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audreynuna

20w

yessirrrrr

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tiny_tealeaf

10w

thank you for bringing baby saja to life 💕 he’s one of my comfort characters & is really important to me. you made this character so special to so many people and brought so many people together with only a few words spoken & thats incredible. 🥰🙏🏻 i hope we get to hear more of your music as an artist, and more baby saja in the future! stay healthy & have a great day! 🙌🏻🌸✨

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yungbbq

18w

Love this movie🔥🔥❤️

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phillytographer

19w

Crazy we just watched it and I was just telling my wife baby Saja sounded exactly like the rapper Decipher, and here you are! You're a Philly legend! Still have your mixtape in my car from the early 2000s!

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ejae_k

20w

HELL YES♥️♥️♥️

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mar_vasquez23

16w

Oh, Baby Saja🔥 Qué gusto conocerte y poder escuchar tu voz!😍🙌🔥

thelyddz

20w

👏👏🙌🙌🔥🔥

agnesjlee